In general, a known apparatus for packing articles, for example pharmaceutical articles or the like, in packs known as blister packs, in turn destined to be subsequently inserted and arranged piled in groups internally of relative containers, such as for example boxes or cartons, overall comprises, according to what is schematically illustrated in appended FIG. 1, a unit 100 for blister pack production, coupled to a unit 101 for packing in cartons.
The blister pack unit 100 in turn comprises at least an unwinding station 50 of a first strip 1 in which cells 2 are subsequently formed, a supply station 3 of articles P which are to be housed in the cells 2, a control station 4 of the presence and condition of the articles P, an unwinding station 51 of a second strip 5 which will be used to seal the first celled strip 1 with the cells 2 filled with the articles P, followed by a cutting station 8 in which formation of single blister packs B is performed, the blister packs B having been obtained by means of sequential cutting of the celled strip 1.
Between the unwinding station 51 and the cutting station 8 there is a printing station 6 in which variable data is printed (or another method) on the celled strip 1 and a further control station 7 of the printed data itself.
In particular, the variable data which is printed on the celled strip 1 in the station 6, and which is therefore visible on each single blister pack B obtained successively from the strip 1, relate for example to a production batch number, and/or the name of the producer of the article P and/or other necessary and important information for the traceability and control of the blister pack B and therefore the relative articles P contained in the blister pack B.
At the packing unit 101 coupled to the blister pack production unit 100, the blister packs B produced by the unit 100 are duly piled to form groups 9 which are then introduced, by pusher means at an insertion station 10, into boxes or cartons 11 together with any further elements or variable data such as for example instructions or information sheets or booklets 12. At a following closing station 13 the cartons 11 are closed and supplied to a further printing station 14, in which variable data or codes are impressed or printed on the cartons 11, which data might for example relate to a production batch number, and/or to a packing date and a respective use-by date for the active ingredient of the article P, or other like data codes.
At present, with the aim of combining the high quality and production standards required for blister packs and their cartons, and in the light of an increasing flexibility of distribution and sale throughout the world, it is advantageous to use a limited number of production plants and warehouses, which are therefore large and often situated in a limited number of industrialized countries, which are able to guarantee very large production batches, and from whose warehouses the quantity of blister pack cartons are sourced, which will then be transported and sent on to the different countries of the world in such quantities as to satisfy, time by time, the demands of the specific markets.
The production and distribution methods however are the cause of certain drawbacks.
A considerably complex management burden is created, in particular with reference to the treatment and control of the variable data to be associated to the blister packs and/or the relative cartons, as this data must necessarily be printed compatibly with the languages used in the respective target countries for distribution and sale.
A similar consideration has to be made for the variable elements such as information sheets, which among other things, as is known, contain not only the instructions for the correct use and dosage, but also and especially provide information on any side-effects of the drug contained in the articles P, and which therefore in order to be perfectly understood must be written in the official language of the specific country in which the drugs are to be put on sale.
Further, the production line of the whole packing apparatus, made up of the blister unit and the cartoning unit, has to be halted and newly set up each time the data or identification codes are to be changed to make them compatible with product destination.
These production halts, as is easily understandable, considerably reduce the efficiency of the production line and thus have a considerable negative economic impact.
The aim of the present invention is to obviate the problems and drawbacks mentioned above.
In particular, the invention intends to overcome the drawbacks by means of a packing methodology which enables a production of blister packs and their subsequent packing in box cartons, with the peculiarity of comprising a first stage in which association of the variable data to the blister packs and/or relative cartons is at least partially left off, thus increasing the production efficiency of the packing and boxing line, and a second stage, following the first stage, realized in a different place, in which the association of the variable data is completed or indeed applied in its entirety.
The above aims are obtained according to the content of the claims.